Leo Holt, (photo) president of the company, released the following statement explaining the program.
\”The UDAG or Urban Development Action Grant Program was created nationally and administered by the US Housing and Urban Development Agency. It is a program that has delivered many billions of dollars in community investment. In the case of the Gloucester Marine Terminal the grant has been a ringing success for Gloucester City and for the the many men and women who have worked there for the last 45 years.
\”In the course of the life of the loan Gloucester City worked cooperatively with the developer many times, through periods of growth and through tough times in the economy. Today\’s final payment represents a the end of a program that garnered nearly $6 Million in grant and interest payments of almost $7 million. The UDAG program provides a fund for the community to use to invest in small business and growth opportunities.\”
Accepting the ceremonial check are: (L to R) Leo Holt, Michael Holt, Gloucester City Councilman John Hutchinson, Gloucester City Mayor William James, Holt Logistics CFO Bill Streich, Gloucester City Administrator Jack Lipsett
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JEER-Gloucester City News.. October 8, 2009….in the Jeer Section I read the following…quote: It was reported in the Philadelphia Inquirer that Camden City and Gloucester City are the only two communities in Camden County that still mix storm water and sewage in one large pipe. If the system overflows when it rains, it floods sewage everywhere. 19 months later nothing has changed. Every time we have a heavy rain…the street begins to flood as Gloucester City Water Department has told me that they close the flood gates in order to let the water into the river at a slow pace. Well, the water that floods the street and fills that large pipe with storm water and sewage…backs up into the sewer line and out on to my basement floor. I have repeatedly had to clean up this raw sewage from my cellar floor with bleach water! Will Gloucester City ever be required to do what the other 35 communities in Camden County have done and fix this quandary? I am so sick of cleaning up other residents’ raw sewage….signed Anonymous
CHEER- May 5th, I lost my cell phone ! I went to the last place I was that morning and checked the WaWa parking lot, but no luck. I went inside and some good person had turned it in to one of the workers, I deeply appreciate that someone turned it in. Many thanks to you and to the people at the Bellmawr WaWa on Browning Road for taking care of it, Thanks so much !! John from Bellmawr.
CHEER- To the young man who saw me struggle to put my recycle bin on the curb and hurried to carry it for me. And we are in the BAD part of Gloucester City!
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IN THE MATTER OF PAUL KAIN, REGISTERED MUNICIPAL CLERK, THE CITY OF GLOUCESTER
DOCKET NO.: CLG-00612-2010S
CLOSING BRIEF ON BEHALF OF THE PETITIONER, THE CITY OF GLOUCESTER’S IN SUPPORT OF PETITION TO REMOVE PAUL KAIN, MUNCIPAL CLERK
INTRODUCTION AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
The City of Gloucester (\”The City\”) filed a Complaint seeking removal of Paul Kain (\”Kain\”), Registered Municipal Clerk of The City with the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (\”NJDCA\”), Division of Local Government Services on December 9, 2009 due to his chronic and excessive absenteeism and his failure to return from a medical leave and leave of absence. See Exhibit P-1.
On January 20, 2010, Kain filed an answer and this matter was transferred to the Office of Administrative Law (\”OAL\”). This Court held a hearing on the matter on February 1, 2011. The City now submits this closing brief in support of its petition to remove Kain. For the reasons set forth herein, The City submits that it has established the necessary good cause for removal pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40A:9-133.7 based upon Kain’s excessive absenteeism, inability to perform his duties and/or job abandonment.
CHEER-Gloucester County Freeholder Director Robert M. Damminger introduced a resolution in January that will amend the eligibility requirements under the county\’s health and welfare plan to eliminate elected officials and appointed officials benefits as of February 28, 2011.
JEER-To Gloucester City Mayor and Council who continue to accept payments for their health benefits. You are part time officials who volunteered for the positions you hold. Freeholder Damminger said it best, \”We put our residents first, not ourselves. Public service is about service, not about benefits.
CHEER-To the Lady Lions basketball team on their dynamic victory over the Lady Rams in January. Johanna James\’ buzzer shot will go down in history. All the players deserve recognition for their work ethic and cohesiveness as a team. Congratulations also to the leadership of Sean and Joe Gorman.
JEER-To the City of Camden for its plan to raise taxes a whopping 23 percent. For years the Camden politicians have been taking state aid (your tax dollars) to run their City and they never planned for the day when the funds would stop coming. The State and Camden politicians should be booted out of office for their lack of foresight. This large tax increase could have been avoided if those in charge had planned better.
CHEER-A layup early in the first quarter gave Gloucester High School senior Cori Conner her 1,000th career point as the Lions cruised to an 81-22 Tri-County Conference Classic Division victory over Pennsville Jan. 31.
JEER –Regarding Camden City police layoffs, State Senator Stephen Sweeney said on January 25, \”Camden’s problem is everybody’s problem. Once [the criminals] bleed Camden, you don\’t think they\’re going to be looking at Gloucester City and Westville?\” Sweeney and his fellow Trenton politicians are responsible for the mess in Camden City, no one else. As for the spillover of crime, more political rhetoric. If there are no police patrolling Camden the criminals are going to stay in Camden!
JEER-Gloucester City Mayor James stated at the January council meeting that he would not tolerate any negative comments against members of the governing body or city employees. In other words you or I will be gagged if we say something that the mayor feels is \”political incorrect.\” President Harry Truman said it best Mr. Mayor, \”If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen!\”
JEER-Once again the Gloucester City Public Works Department did a much more thorough job clearing streets on the east side of town than they did on the West side of town. As they have done in the past, the workers did a mediocre job clearing streets between Broadway and King Street. WE are ALL residents of this town and should be treated with the same concern as those who live in the Heights and on the East side of Broadway. ~Signed, Tired of the Discrimination
CHEER-A Gloucester City Water Works employee replaced my water meter battery in January. He was on-time, even considering it was the day after the big snow storm. More importantly, he was very friendly and didn’t mind the flow of questions coming from my 5-year old Granddaughter, Isabella. He just chugged along while fielding her questions and asking about her snow play. ~A resident
JEER-To Barry Obama for proposing \”investments\” in his SOU to mask his continued, clueless, out of control and irresponsible spending binge. Nice try BO, we’re not as clueless as you are, we get it, you don’t.
CHEER- Thanks to my son, my guardian angel who has been my main support helping me through my illness. God Bless him. Love MOM
JEER-Gloucester City Mayor and Council recently raised the water and sewer rates. How are the elderly, the unemployed and the disabled going to handle this increase? On top of that they have to worry about the increase in butter, eggs, milk, bread, gas, food and clothing. No cost of living again for these people although the Washington politicians got a pay raise.
CHEER-The Gloucester City Public Works Dept. did a great job on the streets in the snow storms this winter. The streets have been cleaned by morning. Get another cup of coffee guys.
CHEER-To Chief of Police George Berglund for his open communication with citizens and his willingness to discuss concerns. I appreciate his respectfulness and the fact that George is easily approachable.
~Bernadette Gorman
KUDOS-A big cheer for our Gloucester City Police Department. My husband gets up for work at 3 am and the first thing he does is start his car so it will be warmed up. Our doorbell rang and it was a police officer checking to see why the car was running and if everything was okay. It is great to know that these fine gentleman are watching out for us all hours of the day or night. A great big thank you to our police department for doing an outstanding job! Thank you! ~A resident
JEER-To the owners of the Crescent Trailer Park for not even attempting to remove snow from streets during every storm this winter. The residents will be snowed in until the spring thaw.
CHEER-To our neighbors on South Hannevig Ave., Brooklawn for helping us during the snow storm. They dug out both of our cars, and shoveled our sidewalk. We are so thankful to them for their kindness and hard work. An extra cheer for Anthony, Shawn, and Pat, you should get the worlds best neighbor award! Thank you guys so much. ~Earl Foster
JEER-To those who fail to clean their sidewalks after a snowstorm!! On Browning Road, Bellmawr, where children have to walk in the street to go to school, because Annunciation Church and the vacant Rite-Aid building are never clear. Aren\’t there ordinances on the books to make them obey the law? This is an accident waiting to happen!
CHEER-To the people who keep the Bellmawr Fire Department website up to date with detailed incident information, photos and statistics.
CHEER-Thank you to those who helped with this column: Mildred Stubbs, Charles Harry Sharrard, William John, Debra Morse, Earl Foster, Ray DeVoe, Bernadette Gorman, John Hindsley, Mark Matthews
If you have a cheer or jeer (on anything at all) for the February column send it to [email protected]
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\”When a large percentage of OPRA requests are coming from the same person or same group of people working together, I have to agree with your statement that \”they have taken this law and made a mockery out of it for personal reasons.\”
Jentsch stated \”more OPRA request than that will be considered a \”substantial disruption\” of the Clerk\’s functions. Such requests will not be considered \”received\” until all previous requests at two-per day-have been satisfied.\”
photo Gloucester City Municipal Building
Shortly thereafter Catherine Starghill Executive Director of the Government Records Council for the state of New Jersey informed Jentsch that the City’s recent OPRA policy was in violation of rules.
To find out why the city clerk was trying to limit the numbers Jentsch was contacted and asked to provide a list of the OPRA’s received in 2010.
Those documents revealed that the City received 127 OPRA requests in 2010. Many of those requests last year came from just two people, Gary Pierce and Michael Walters. Pierce, a fireman, submitted 26 and Walters, 38. Walters, who is a disabled city fireman, ran unsuccessfully for city council last year.
In the first 21 days of January, 41 OPRA’s have been submitted. Twenty-one were received from former municipal clerk/city administrator Paul Kain, and 9 came from Walters.
Jentsch was asked whether she felt some of these individuals are making a mockery out of the OPRA law for personal reasons because of all the requests they have filed?
She writes,
\”When a large percentage of OPRA requests are coming from the same person or same group of people working together, I have to agree with your statement that \”they have taken this law and made a mockery out of it for personal reasons.\”
\”In 2010 31% of the requests received were from Michael Walters and 21% from Firefighter Gary Pierce. Mr. Walters averaged up to 3-5 per day and range from simple to complex.
\”In 2011 85% of the requests received were from three individuals that I believe are working together. It’s unfair that taxpayers are paying for manpower hours to accommodate these three individuals for their own self interest.
\”Although I fully support the intention of OPRA, the sheer volume of requests in one year is disruptive. I have done my best to continue to perform all duties of the office of Municipal Clerk but unfortunately my definition of disruptive differs from the Government Records Council.
\” I am not sure that the average person is aware of what it takes to assemble 10 different person’s emails to and from a certain individual within a certain time period. If the requestor would simply ask for exactly what they are seeking instead of conducting a fishing expedition to try to uncover some illegal activity that does not exist.
\”The public also needs to be made aware that if a requestor asks for the information to be sent electronically there is no cost, not even a per page copy cost.
\”As far as your question as to whether any employees are staying late to assist with the abundance of OPRA requests – Because I am the custodian of records it is up to me to make sure all information is provided to the requestor within the statutorily mandated 7 business days. Therefore, the only employee that is working off hours is me. The Clerk’s office is responsible for duties other than OPRA requests and most all are time sensitive thereby the necessity for off hour work.
\”As far as your question on cost to taxpayers – I cannot give you a number but can assure you that the additional time being spent off hours by me is not costing the City a cent.
\”The City website is being upgraded and updated to include 3 years of minutes, agendas, resolutions, ordinances, contracts, etc. My hope is that this will reduce the amount of requests received.
\”The Governing Body, as well as the City Solicitor, have been assigned City email addresses and those email addresses will be released to the public once final set up has occurred.\”
Deacon Frank Crosson of St. Mary’s Church gave the invocation, following the Pledge of Allegiance, during the 142nd annual Gloucester City Council re-organization meeting.
In prayer, Crosson asked that all the people may benefit from the governing body’s decisions.
With his family standing by, re-elected Mayor William P. James was sworn into office by State Senator Donald Norcross (D-5).
Re-elected council members, John Hutchinson, 1st Ward; Bruce Parry, 2nd Ward; and Kellie Ferry, 3rd Ward, received their oaths of office from various Camden County officials, including, Freeholder Director Louis Cappelli Jr, Assemblyman Angel Fuentes and County Sheriff Chuck Billingham.
In the mayor’s statement, James said that prior to the 2010 Election he had reported the City’s progress in a nine-page press release to let the citizens know what was happening.
He said the fact that the election was won by the incumbents shows that people have confidence in the governing body.
\”We will still face the glaring difficulties of the previous year. There will be difficult decisions to be made, especially with the keeping of personnel.
\”I am not going to talk against the governor’s policies that do affect our budget. It will do no good right now. We promise to remain strong,\” James said, adding that they will not be influenced by any outside special interest groups.
Several City Council members echoed James remarks, saying that they all are part of the county and state team.
\”Times are quite different than when I first sat on Council 25 years ago,\” Councilman Daniel Spencer said. \”There were better times back then for the City.\”
Thirteen resolutions were read. All received unanimous approval except R002, R007 and R12.
Councilwoman Kellie Ferry voted \”nay\” on the appointment of John B. Kearney for the position of City Solicitor, and \”Nay\” on the appointment of Kearney and Associates as Special Counsel to the Tax Office on R2 and R7.
Councilman Nick Marchese also voted \”nay\” on the appointment of Kearney and Associates as Special Counsel.
Ferry voted \”Nay\” on R12 for the appointment of Jack Lipsett as the City Administrator. She remarked later that she felt there was someone else she would like to have been appointed in that position.
During the Public Forum, resident John Schmidt asked if there is a statue that would allow the City Clerk to conduct a meeting in the absence of the mayor.
Solicitor Kearney said he did not know of any statue pertaining to the question.
Schmidt was referring to an end of the year close-out meeting that took place on December 29.
Schmidt said Acting City Clerk Kathy Jentsch ran that meeting, and that James and Councilman Nick Marchese were not present, but participated and voted via a conference phone call.
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In a recent letter to the Gloucester City News, I had asked for some information why City residents have to move their cars for an hour for no apparent reason, and so far no one has been able to give me a logical answer.
One of the newest answers was, \”It’s just the way it has always been,\” which to me is not very logical. I have two cars I park in locations where there is \”No Parking\” on Thursdays and Fridays from 8 to 9 a.m.
So, on Thursday, I moved my car and not only did the sweeper come by, but it came past twice in the same hour. On Friday, I moved my car and the sweeper never came by.
There were several other cars illegally parked for the whole hour, and none of those cars received a ticket.
Why does my car get a parking ticket, and these other cars do not? I am beginning to feel as though I am being singled out. On a regular basis, I see other cars, including vehicles from local businesses, parking where they want without getting parking tickets.
Several months ago I had been told by a City detective that I could not park my motorcycle on the sidewalk, but a local business has motorcycles parked on its sidewalk up to six times a week without tickets being issued.
Are they someone special, or do I have to own a business to earn these special parking privileges? It needs to be understood that this letter, previous or future letters, are in no way meant to demean or start a conflict with the local police. I feel they do a fine job, and are underpaid for the work they do!
Can anyone help answer my questions, as I am truly baffled by these \”No Parking\” issues in our City? I am not the only person in Gloucester City with these problems, and I would like to hear from others. Now is your chance to sound off.
Joseph M. Pine, Gloucester City
Note from Bill-
Dear Mr. Pine
Over the years I have written about this topic several times. What I found was the No Parking ordinance has nothing to do with the sweeper. It is because the City is making over $100,000 annually from this \” tax\” which they label as a No Parking violation. In fact I would bet that figure is even higher today.
I never did find out if this \”parking tax\” is making enough money to pay for the salaries of two full- time sweeper employees plus benefits and the salary for a part-time parking official (meter maid). Add in the cost and maintenance of the equipment to that total.
Many people have complained about this \”parking tax\” but it doesn\’t seem to faze mayor and council, as this law has been on the books for ages..
The City even goes after police officers who violate the law.
What is even more upsetting, this \”tax\” is only for residents who live on the poor side of Gloucester City.
You will find very few streets, if any at all, with a No Parking sign located in the Cypress Gardens section, Meadowbrook, Park Manor, etc. area. When was the last time you saw the sweeper on Oriental Avenue? Thus people who live on the other side of Route 130 do not have to worry about being cited with a parking ticket. Nor do they have to worry about moving their cars once a week. Nor do they have to worry about paying this \”extra tax\” that the majority of residents in Gloucester City are burden with ….and I agree it is not fair!
~Bill Cleary
PS: Using the search engine at the top right hand column put in the words city parking tickets and will see the articles.
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JEER-The City of Gloucester City is increasing the fine for not removing snow/ice from your sidewalk from $25 to $30. Yet days after the recent December snow storm you could still find sidewalks that surround City playgrounds and parks covered with the white stuff. New Years Eve the sidewalk in front of the PAL building on Brown Street was a sheet of ice. If the City is going to fine the public for not shoveling their walks then they should set a better example.
JEER-Council members along with professional municipal employees should be able to answer a question from a resident at a public forum in a civil tone. Raising ones voice and shouting at someone just because you don’t like the individual or the question is simply wrong and disrespectful. Are you so above the people you serve that you forget where you came from? Simply put, if you can’t answer the resident’s question in a civil tone then don’t say anything at all.
CHEER-\”We would like to publicly thank Patrolman Wall and the Gloucester City Police Department for checking on our store late at night an making sure everything is secure. It is nice to know that you are watching out for us.\” ~Joe and Shirley Bramble, Brambles Cold Cuts
CHEER-Following the Atlantic Street home fire this past month the Gloucester City Irish Society donated $1000 to help the families who loss their possessions as a result of the fire. Clothes and toys were also donated to the families from Bayers Tavern. Who says Gloucester City doesn’t look out for their own! ~Joe Murphy
KUDOS to all the businesses, organizations and residents throughout the area that continually give of their time and money to help make Christmas a little bit happier for those less fortunate.
CHEER-To Kellie and Gary Troxell for their contributions to our community. Troxie\’s is a relative newcomer to Gloucester City and thus far they\’ve had a \”bring in a coat get a free bowl of soup\” event as well as a Giving Tree. Gary has helped me with the ins and outs of business here and he and Kellie have been true friends throughout my husband\’s illness. ~Dawn Watson
CHEER-Glad to see the abandoned Xtra Gas Station at Black Horse Pike and Browning Road, Bellmawr is being demolished. Great improvement. Kudos go out to several other Bellmawr businesses for sprucing up their appearances such as Ed’s Carpet Shop, Bellmawr News.
JEER-To the NJ Civil Service system that allows a tenure employee to be absent from work without an approved excuse and still have the right to a hearing before the Department of Community Affairs. Former Gloucester City Municipal Clerk Paul Kain who was fired by the City in July 2009 for being absent 120 days is seeking his job back. City Solicitor John Kearney said, \”This is another example of our absurd system and how good intentioned ideas can go astray. Protecting career public servants from political pressure has been turned into making it difficult to remove the incompetent\” The December 21 mediation session failed to settle the dispute between the City and Kain. A hearing will be held in Trenton on Feb. 15. Kain is also seeking a financial settlement from the City.
JEER-Another year has passed and members of Gloucester City council continue to accept free health care for themselves and their families paid for by the taxpayers. If they already have insurance they are reimbursed. It cost taxpayers approximately $83,000 annually for this perk.The position of mayor and council member is a thankless job. They give up a lot of their free time to attend meetings. But they knew this when they ran for office. They are accepting paid health care for a job that is part-time, which they volunteered to do. This is the third or fourth time we have asked council to end this practice. If you want to be paid more money for being mayor or council member then pass a resolution increasing your salaries. In these tough economic times when you are asking city employees to sacrifice you should set the example.
If you have a cheer or jeer for the January column send it to [email protected]
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